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Braised Rump of Beef

A slow‑cooked rump of beef braised with carrots, shallots, onions, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and marsala wine.

From an old cookbook · modernised transcription
From a historical cookbook (Internet Archive) · 14 ingredients
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Why it works: Parsley and thyme match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 1% of all ingredient pairs, and cooks put them together in 9,057 recipes. Both carry cuminaldehyde, which smells Spicy, cumin. The science ↓

Braised Rump of Beef

Ingredients

Directions

Prepare the beef

  1. Remove all surplus fat and bone from the beef.

  2. Place the beef in a stewpan and cover it with stock.

  3. Simmer gently for 1 hour.

  4. Remove the meat and let it drain.

Braise

  1. In a braising pan, combine the meat with carrots, shallots, onions, bay leaves, parsley, thyme, and gravy or water.

  2. Braise gently for 3 hours, keeping the lid slightly lifted and basting occasionally.

  3. Gradually add the marsala wine.

  4. Ensure the meat is a rich brown and the vegetables are well cooked.

  5. If the gravy needs thickening, use a little cornflour.

Serve

  1. Serve on a large dish, garnished with carrots and brussels sprouts.

Recipe from a historical cookbook (Internet Archive).

Transcribed from a scanned cookbook and modernised for today's kitchens. Where the book gave no heat or time, or said "a moderate oven", the temperatures and times here may be modern equivalents rather than the book's own figures.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much their aromas overlap, and how often cooks already put them together.

  1. Parsley + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together9,057 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

  2. Carrot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together8,053 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  3. Shallot + parsleytop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together3,737 recipes

    Shared aroma: 2,4-decadienal (seaweed).

  4. Shallot + thymetop 1% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together1,476 recipes

    Shared aroma: eucalyptol (eucalyptus, herbal).

  5. Carrot + thymetop 3% of all pairs
    Smell alikestrong
    Cooked together4,563 recipes

    Shared aroma: cuminaldehyde (Spicy, cumin).

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

What each ingredient does

Rump of beef
Is the main meat, which becomes tender through long, gentle braising.
Marsala wine
Adds aromatic sweetness and depth to the braising liquid.
Cornflour
Thickens the gravy into a smooth, glossy sauce.
Shallots
Soften during braising and add mild, sweet onion flavour to the gravy.
Carrots
Soften during braising and add natural sweetness to the gravy.

The step that matters

Simmer gently and keep the braise slow. Rump is a tough cut rich in connective tissue. Gentle, low heat slowly converts collagen into gelatin, making the meat tender and moist. A hard boil toughens the muscle fibres and dries the meat out.

Swap the brussels sprouts

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (beef, carrot, shallot, onion, parsley, thyme, wine):

  1. Leekfits better
  2. Chivefits better
  3. Parsnipfits better
  4. Brussels sproutsthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against beef, carrot, shallot, onion, parsley, thyme, wine. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes.

“What each ingredient does” and “The step that matters” were written by Claude from this recipe’s own method and reviewed in samples by CompKitchen.

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